Grand Challenges in Global Health Science- Science 10/17/03

A most hopeful and informative article (Science Volume 302, Number 5644,
Issue of 17 Oct 2003, pp. 398-399) presenting 14 Grand Challenges (GC)
in Global Health, by Harold Varmus, formerly head of the NIH, presently
president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and
colleagues.

The text says in part:

["What Is a Grand Challenge?
On 1 May 2003, in a solicitation widely advertised in the developed and
developing world, a grand challenge was described as "a call for a
specific scientific or technological innovation that would remove a
critical barrier to solving an important health problem in the
developing world with a high likelihood of global impact and
feasibility." 

the abstract concludes with: 

"We describe the characteristics of these challenges and the process by
which they were formulated and selected after receiving over 1000
responses to a "call for ideas" from the scientific community."]  

Grants for research into these 14 GC Goals are provided by the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation.

Most of these 14 GC Goals, see list attached below, are directly
applicable to the the development of a cost effective, available to rich
and poor alike, Therapeutic and Preventative HIV-1 Vaccine, as well as
vaccines for other pathogenic microbe diseases, i.e., TB and Malaria,
and cancers commonly found in HIV+ individuals.

Please note, The article provides many links of interest which can be
accessed via the free full text link at the bottom.

Thanks
Jesse Creel 
Vaccine Research Advocate
6072 Cartier Ave
New Orleans, LA 70122
USA
Tel: (504) 282-1353
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Science Volume 302, Number 5644, Issue of 17 Oct 2003, pp. 398-399. 

Grand Challenges in Global Health

H. Varmus, R. Klausner, E. Zerhouni, T. Acharya, A. S. Daar, P. A.
Singer

This week an international panel announces a list of 14 Grand Challenges
in Global Health, and scientists throughout the world will be invited to
submit grant proposals to pursue them with funds provided by the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation. We describe the characteristics of these
challenges and the process by which they were formulated and selected
after receiving over 1000 responses to a "call for ideas" from the
scientific community.  

H. Varmus is the president and CEO of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, New York, NY 10021, USA. R. Klausner is the executive director
of the Global Health Program, BMGF, Seattle, WA 98102, USA. E. Zerhouni
is the director of the NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. T. Acharya, A. S.
Daar, and P. A. Singer are at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for
Bioethics, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1L4. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
GOALS AND GRAND CHALLENGES

To improve childhood vaccines:
GC 1: Create effective single-dose vaccines that can be used soon after
birth; 
GC 2: Prepare vaccines that do not require refrigeration; 
GC 3: Develop needle-free delivery systems for vaccines.

To create new vaccines: 
GC 4: Devise reliable tests in model systems to evaluate live attenuated
vaccines; 
GC 5: Solve how to design antigens for effective, protective immunity;
GC 6: Learn which immunological responses provide protective immunity. 

To control insects that transmit agents of disease: 
GC 7: Develop a genetic strategy to deplete or incapacitate a
disease-transmitting insect population; 
GC 8: Develop a chemical strategy to deplete or incapacitate a
disease-transmitting insect population.

To improve nutrition to promote health: 
GC 9: Create a full range of optimal bioavailable nutrients in a single
staple plant species. 

To improve drug treatment of infectious diseases: GC 10: Discover drugs
and delivery systems that minimize the likelihood of drug-resistant
microorganisms. 

To cure latent and chronic infections: 
GC 11: Create therapies that can cure latent infections; 
GC 12: Create immunological methods that can cure chronic infections. 

To measure disease and health status accurately and economically in poor
countries: 
GC 13: Develop technologies that permit quantitative assessment of
population health status; GC 14: Develop technologies that allow
assessment of individuals for multiple conditions or pathogens at
point-of-care. 

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Free Full Text Link
Science -- Varmus et al. 302 (5644): 398 
Address:http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5644/398

The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World to
Fight Malnutrition, AIDS and Other Diseases Address:
http://www.thehungersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites